[Lady Maud Wilbraham, President of the Silver Thimble Fund.] Autograph Card Signed to ‘Mrs Allan’ [Mrs Evelyn Julia Allan] of the Red Cross, thanking her for a contribution, and deploring the state of the times.

An evocative artefact of one of the most successful British charities of the Great War. The Silver Thimble Fund was founded by Hope Elizabeth Hope Clarke of Wimbledon in 1915, and run from her house. Damaged trinkets made of precious metals, including 60,000 silver thimbles, were collected and melted down, paying for fifteen ambulances for the front and other medical transportation and equipment. The recipient is Mrs. Evelyn Julia Allan, listed in 1918 in the London Gazette as Honorary Secretary, Chelsea Division, British Red Cross. Wilbraham writes on both sides of an unillustrated postcard, whose letterhead names her as President, and Hope Clarke as ‘Founder and Organiser’. Worn and creased. Folded three times, with small closed tear to vertical fold at foot. The postcard is not made out with the recipient’s address. Wilbraham’s voice comes across very clearly in the hurried message: ‘Dear Miss Allan / How too kind of you, and also a cheque, it is most noble of you. And I cannot thank you enough. I enclose a paper of our sale next week, which I hope you will be able to come to. Yes times are too depressing, if only one could see day light any where. How splendid your Red X sale has been. With renewed most grateful thanks / Yrs sincerely / Maud B Wilbraham’.